I suggest the call center should be moved to India. As Welsh is a member of the Indo-Asian group of languages I am sure no strain on their voices would result by the use of 'Bore da'.

As a child, who was educated in the medium of Welsh and that English is my mother tounge, I just wonder was I put at risk indeed child abuse. Perhaps I should consult 'Lawyers To Go' ?

Huw Griffiths, Pontypridd, Cymru

Trudi - I believe the word "queue" is French.
Hwyl i chi.

Steve Jeans, Caerdydd, Cymru

I reside in the Vale of Glamorgan. I am going to get in touch with my council to which i pay vast sums in Council tax for there must be more to it than this. Otherwise we would be living in a land of utter administrative nonsense where local (and for that matter, central) buerocracy is so far removed from the lives of the ordinary folk as to be a crass absurdity. Such a notion could not possibly hold water in these last days of Blair's Britain. Could it?

On a related point, and i say this as a Yorkshireman who has spent hundreds of hours learning Welsh, I simply detest this disingenuous situation where councils and publlc bodies asnwer the phone in Welsh but the worker answering invariably is completely lost if one actually tries to converse with them in Welsh and will always rely on these bon mots: "Sorrry, I don't speak Welsh".

It really is a shables, but to rely on phoney phone phonetics just adds further ignonimy to an already ridiculous situation.

JONATHAN BRIERLEY, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

To Trudi - there is a Welsh word for queue, which is "cwt". Perhaps you could devote some time to wondering where English got so many of its words from? When English borrows words, it is flexibility in language, and vibrancy - the eighteenth century grammarians called it "copiousness" - why does Welsh borrowing words make it a dead language?

Bethan, Oxford,

As a native welsh speaker and a student of phonetics, I think I can safely say that there is no difference between Welsh and English in terms of the use of the vocal chords. I find it quite ridiculous that getting smoking banned in public places takes ages (despite the masses of evidence of the dangers) and yet something like this is done without any good reason. In this day and age, I'm sure there are plenty of workers in Councils for whom English isn't their first language either - their voices are not being damaged by having to speak English. Nonsense.
I do, however, quite like Ms Fuseli's comment: "Surely if only monolingual greetings are to be allowed, they should be in Welsh?" - quite.

Gethin Jones, Cambridge/Cardiff,

Shouldn't this have been in the April 1 issue? Absolute nonsense.I usually only speak Welsh, so maybe I should stop greeting customers to my shop in English as I'm probably harming my vocal chords? And if ignorant persons like Trudi Skipp (best place for her) wants to be so negative, maybe she would like to get her facts/spelling right first- car park- 'maes parcio', to queue - 'ciwio'

Nia, Dolgellau, Gwynedd

English is actually much worse for vocal chords. The word "Good Morning" contains 2 velar consonants - sounds articulated from the back of the throat. Not only that, but you need to shift many more muscles than you do with "bore da".

Welsh should therefore be used - you don't want someone to break their jaw saying "good morning"!

Aled James, Cardigan, Wales

Personally i think that it is a shambolic excuse. I am a fluent Welsh speaker and so are my brothers, my sister and many of my friends. To say that adding two additional words to the start of a telephone conversation are going to cause that much of a health hazard. And as for people saying the we should just let the language die just shows how anglicised the country is becoming, but i'm sure you sing the national anthem on match day. If english and welsh speaking welsh people dont stand up for one if not the oldest LIVING language in Europe then there really is no hope. has any welshmen/woman here been asked "is Wales in England?" and been insulted by it then you should be insulted by this mockery of a old wives culture that seems to be all the rage these days.

Gareth Cryer, Casnewydd, Casnewydd

I hope this is not my Union who says this. If it is, then I will send back my membership card, shredded. What a load of rubbish.

Alun, Caerdydd, Caerdydd

I live in the Vale of Glamorgan and a tiny fraction of the population here speaks welsh, and thos have fluent english. The introduction of 'bore da' as a telephone greeting is a lip-service nod to the very powerful welsh language board. Welsh is a dead language (hear of 'parcio ceir' for 'car park' or 'cwio' for queue'?). Let it go

Trudi Skipp, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

I've never heard such a farce. This health and safety business, in my amateur opinion, has far crossed the line. It must be stopped, or else where is the line going to be drawn. Will they be denying is from speaking, for fear of losing our voices altogether? Who knows.

James Whittaker, Caerdydd, Wales

This is ridiculous. Government at all level should devote more time to real issues, not rubbish like this.

Jonathan Krause, London,

What do you expext of the Left, they won't be happy untill everyone is speakning Urdu

S Braule, Llanelli, Wales

In the interests of health and safety surely this is a sensible measure. In fact, to spare the vocal chords of telephonists everywhere, an inside source alledges that one of Tony Blairs "going out with a boom of legislation" measures is to make it law that telephonists communicate by rapping the phone on the desk, using only the hand which is supported by the heavy duty padded wristbrace to avoid forming nodules on their larynxses.
Sheer PC insanity.... "why should Britain tremble?"

Pete North, manchester,

I wonder whether the bureaucrats who came up with this simply had no useful work to do and needed to look busy, or whether Vale of Glamorgan council is interested in discouraging the use of the Welsh language and thought that "health 'n' safety" was the ideal excuse to do so without facing accusations of cultural prejudice.

knirirr, Oxford,

I recently followed a bus in Cardiff, the back of which was covered in ads, all in welsh, except for one rectangle in the top right hand side which asked politely: PLEASE LET ME PULL OUT. Don't they trust the Welsh reading drivers to oblige?

I.T.Macnamara, Plymouth,

Surely if only monolingual greetings are to be allowed, they should be in Welsh?

Martina Fuseli, Portsmouth, England

I am delighted to see what excellent use yet another local government body is making of taxpayers' money and officials' time. That somebody has actually had time to think of this ridiculous policy is almost as absurd as the policy itself. My first language is English and I leart to speak Welsh at age eleven. My vocal cords are still in perfect health. This is a farce.

Ceri-Ann McGraa, Mold, Wales

We need a law that gives a statutory defence of "manifest absurdity" so that we can just disobey mad regulations at whim.

Kay Tie, York,

If I understand correctly what the Union is saying, is that if I speak in English to my English speaking friends, and when I see my Welsh speaking friends are converse in Welsh, that I might damage my vocal cords.
I can only say that they are totally ignorant of the Welsh language and how it is spoken..."prynhawn da" rolls off the tongue a lot easier than "good afternoon".
Maybe the trouble is and I have made the mistake myself by replying in Welsh to the greeting "bore da", only to find that the person does not speak Welsh. So maybe English only speakers, will be better off greeting in English to save any confusion!!

LLoyd, Glan Conwy, N.Wales

What utter nonsense. This is surely an example of bureaucracy gone mad. If I were in the position of making such a call, I would certainly welcome the ability to choose between "good morning" and "bore da".

akai ringo, Tokyo, Japan

Ludicrous. I speak English, German, French and Spanish and have had Danish lessons and 9 years of Welsh. I've got some Turkish and Japanese phrases and my vocal cords are in perfect health.

Tina, Duesseldorf, Germany